The present invention relates to an inkjet recording system, and more particularly to an inkjet recording system in which scatter of ink at an image formation by an inkjet recording device is prevented.
The inkjet recording device is generally configured such that ink is introduced from an ink supplier to ink ejection channels of an inkjet head, and by selectively driving actuators such as heat generating elements or piezoelectric elements, ink is ejected from ejection nozzles provided at tips of the ejection channels. When a color image is formed, the image is divided into primary color components, for example, Cyan (C), Magenta (M) and Yellow (Y) components, and each color image is formed to overlap. By adjusting the thickness of the color components, a desired color is created. When a black image is formed, or when the color image includes a black component, black (K) ink is also used.
The ink ejected from the ejection nozzles may scatter when it reached a target medium, on which an image is formed. Then, the scattered ink drops on or between ink drops of other colors and pervades among the ink drops of other colors, which results in a blot of the ink. In this specification, such a condition (i.e., the blot of the ink on the target medium) is also referred to as a scatter. In order to prevent the scatter, various method has been suggested. For example, Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. HEI 09-58022 discloses a method for suppressing the scatter of the ink drops by controlling the speed of the ejected ink drops. Another example is disclosed in Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. 06-24009. According to the disclosure of this publication, the order of the color components is determined such that a color component image of a higher pixel density is formed prior to color component images having lower pixel densities. Further, Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. HEI 09-296380 discloses a method of printing, with ink containing a scatter preventing agent, outlines of each image and boundaries at areas having different colors.
According to the method described in the first and second publications above, ejection of the ink should be controlled precisely. According to the third method, it is necessary to prepare the ink containing the scatter preventing agent, which requires a pre-operation work and extra cost therefor.